Just Kids
by Frankielynn
Summary: It was summer, I was young and it was love. Cowboy boots, Rodeos, Sweat teas and Carlisle. One-Shot.


**So, I have decided to give ffnet a second chance. I'm not posting my old fics back just yet (as they need a bit of rework), but they are all still around. But I am adding my new fics here as well as on my other sites. I hope you enjoy these little fic ideas I get.  
**

**Thank you to KareBear1965 and Lulu_M for betaing this one-shot as well as EmmaLee Rose for being my prereader super woman. You guys rock my socks.**

**Just Kids**

* * *

I'll never forget the day I heard Mike Newton had put a gun in his mouth. It was 1987, and I was an eighteen year old senior in high school. Mike was the captain of the football team, track God, and like me, had a big secret no one else knew.

However, we were just kids, and it was just high school. How bad could it really be? That same summer Mike Newton swallowed a bullet, I met Carlisle.

Carlisle was twenty-two and a ranch hand for my dad's ranch while he trained for the rodeo. I spent many a day that summer watching him haul hay and groom the horses, never having the courage to actually talk to him.

I didn't have to suffer long. A few months before school started again, Carlisle asked me to help him move out some hay from his truck. Once we finally got talking, we found out how much we did in fact have in common.

After that day, our friendship grew fast. I'd help Carlisle haul hay, and he would help me with my college applications. Time with Carlisle, in those few short weeks that summer, would turn out to be some of my best and worst memories.

Carlisle was my first kiss. It happened by accident, but it wasn't a mistake, at least not on my part. We had both been bent over unhooking a hay bale and stood up at the same time, our lips somehow connecting. We both blurted out fast "I'm sorrys' and tried to finish out the day. _Ignore it and it'll go away, right?_

I was still feeling bad when he found me later, hiding in one of the old horse barns.

"Jasper, are you in here?"

"No. Go away!" I yelled, tucking myself in tighter behind a stall.

"Not until we talk."

"What's to talk about, Carlisle?"

"The fact that I kissed you, and I'm not really sure what that means."

"I didn't mean to— wait, what?" Did he just say he kissed _me?_

We spent the rest of that night talking. Carlisle confided in me that he was gay.I told him that I was pretty sure I was gay as well before discussing where we took it from there. That night changed a few things; I got my second, and real, first kiss, as well as my first boyfriend. We spent the rest of the summer doing what we had always done with just a few added perks—like making out in Carlisle's truck.

They were the best days of my life, up until the last day of summer. I was lying on a blanket with Carlisle a few miles away from the ranch. The stars were shining bright lights in the sky, and Carlisle had hardly even kissed me since he'd picked me up.

"Jasper . . . we need to talk. I like you . . . a lot, but you're eighteen, and I'm twenty-two. I'm not in high school anymore. I'm not getting ready for college in the fall. I'm an adult, with an adult life."

"And I'm just some summer fling?" I sniffed, wiping at my face.

"No, I didn't say that, and that's not what I meant. What I mean is . . . we are at different points in life, after different things. You need someone your own age, or at least after the same things you are. But we still have tonight as us. We'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow." He finished by pulling me closer, placing a gentle and hungry kiss on my lips.

That was also the night I lost my virginity. I've played that night over in my head a lot over the past twenty-five years of my life. Maybe it was wrong to have given my innocence to someone who I knew was going to break my heart as soon as the sun rose, but I couldn't help that a part of me would always love Carlisle.

The rest of the night was spent kissing and touching, and then eventually we got back to talking.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay, Jazz?" His lips burned the top of my head as he spoke.

"Kinda have to be don't I?"

"No. Look, I won't play the break up game and tell you we will still be friends. By the time you're out of school tomorrow, I'll be just a dust cloud on the road and a nice summer memory in your head."

I didn't speak. Instead, I nodded my head and helped him fold up the blanket, redressing in the dark.

Carlisle was right. By the time the last bell rang, he was long gone.

I didn't see or hear from Carlisle after that night on the blanket. After school finished, I went out of state for college, and my life did move on. I dated, seriously and casually, and even moved in with a guy. We were together for about ten years before the fact that it just wasn't feeling "right" started to split us in the middle.

I remained friends with Peter, was even invited to his wedding a few years ago. It wasn't that I was comparing them all to Carlisle. It was just that once you have lost your heart to someone, it's hard to ever get it back.

* * *

I hated rodeos. I hated cocky guys that call themselves "cowboys". I hated that smell of hay and horses in the summer. And I hated Texas.

However, I bit my tongue and packed my bags. After all, I'd do anything for my godson, Peter's oldest son, Edward.

The arena was loud and crowded, and I couldn't find Edward or Peter anywhere. I sent a quick text to Emmett, Peter's husband, asking where in the blue hell they were sitting, when I saw Edward's copper hair come flying my way.

"JASPER! You made it. Dad and Emmett will be so glad to see you. They're sitting just above the gate, fourth row. You can't miss Emmett. I think Peter found him the biggest fucking cowboy hat the airport had." Edward laughed, still embracing me in a tight bear hug.

"Hey, watch your mouth, Edward."

"Sorry, Uncle Jazz."

He released me from the hug, leaving me to go find his dads. Edward was right. Emmett had on the hugest, red and blue cowboy hat I think I had ever seen. Sitting down, I took it off his head and placed it on my own.

"Your boy is all grown up, guys."

"We know." Peter sniffed, leaning into Emmett.

We all laughed before quieting down and standing for the National Anthem. I watched with Peter and Emmett as one wannabe cowboy after another rode their round. Then it was finally Edward's turn. A squeaky little girl's voice chirped up the bleacher steps a few seconds shy of Edward's turn.

"Did I miss him? Did he ride his round yet?" the now breathless blonde chirped, sitting down next to me.

"No, B. He's riding out now." Emmett soothed her, sliding over another seat.

"Good. I didn't want to miss him."

I caught a slight chuckle from Peter as the girl continued to ramble on about Edward and helping him train, oblivious to me sitting next to her.

"Bella, I would like you to meet Jasper. He's Edward's Godfather of sorts. Jasper, this is Bella, Edward's very excited girlfriend."

I shook her hand, shooting Peter a sly wink. "Girlfriend, huh? How long has this been going on?"

"Oh, I'd say around about the same time Edward started his rodeo training. Her dad was his coach."

The little girl interrupted Peter to finish the story.

"My dad used to be a rodeo hand during the summers. He started riding himself a few years later. He rode and competed right up until he hurt his leg, so he started coaching the new kids instead. That's how I met Edward."

"So, then how did you find this guy for Edward?" I asked as I looked at Peter.

"More like he found us. He had come through Nevada on a tour for one of his other students, and the whole show came into the gift shop for last minute souvenirs. We got to talking as he was waiting for everyone to finish out. Wound up that he grew up not far from where you did and was looking for new students. The rest, as they say, is history."

"He grew up by me? So that was like what, the deal sealer?" I laughed, watching just in time as Edward's horse rounded the barrel and bucked, causing Edward to fall. Our conversation for the moment was forgotten. Edward's coach ran into the arena to check on him.

Carlisle.

I sat frozen in both concern for Edward and memories of Carlisle. I watched as Carlisle helped Edward stand and limp out of the arena, giving a thumbs up on the way out that he was okay. Peter, Bella, Emmett and myself all raced down the steps to get to Edward, as soon as they let us.

Walking into the medical center of the arena, I watched as Carlisle twisted and rotated Edward's ankle. Peter and Emmett hovered over him, with Bella chirping out her concerns for her boyfriend to her dad.

Her dad. God, Carlisle was a father. When had we grown up?

I cleared my throat, and tapped him on the shoulder once he finished explaining that Edward had a mild sprain and would be fine in a day or two.

"Carlisle? How about a blast from the past?"

He halted, slowly turning around and facing me. Up close I could see the signs of a life lived in the sun, but he was still the same Carlisle I remembered. Still the same guy who owned my heart and memories.

"My God, Jasper? I haven't seen you in—"

"Twenty-five years. Give or take." I finished for him, trying to add a small laugh to break the mood. Peter and Emmett watched us like a tennis game.

"That sounds about right. How have you been, Jasper?"

I sighed, taking a deep breath, answering the question in Peter's eyes.

"Carlisle used to be a rodeo hand on my dad's ranch when I was in high school. We . . . hung out over the summer before I graduated." I forced a smile as Peter nodded, scooting Emmett and everyone out of the room. "And I'm good, Carlisle. I started my own law firm about fifteen years ago. Live in Nevada. That's about it.

"Wow, twenty-five years, and I have not a fucking clue what to say to you." He looked away, bending to sit on the bed Edward had just left.

"Well, what about you. What have you been up to besides this?" I waved my hand around the room.

"Not much. After I left, I got a job in Austin as a rider for the state rodeo. That's how I met Bella's mom. We dated for a bit before she found out she was pregnant. We got married the year after Bella was born. I got hurt shortly after that and started coaching."

"And Bella's mom?"

I had a hard time seeing Carlisle married, let alone married to a woman and with kids. I wondered for a minute how many, besides Bella, they had.

"Bella's mom and I divorced when Bella was five. We tried really hard to make it work. Especially after her sister, Rosalie, was born, but it just wasn't working. I was on the road a lot then, and she didn't trust me. That's life I guess."

"I guess." I nodded in agreement.

"I take it you never settled down?" He poked at my shoulder teasingly.

"I tried. Was actually with Peter for about ten years after college, 'til he met Emmett."

"Wow."

"I didn't really date much after that. Career first. Love second."

"Yeah, that's how I am now. After Bella's mom, work and being a dad sort of left little time for dating."

We stopped talking, and just stared at each other. The feeling of seeing a ghost having not yet passed us. I searched around in my head for the right words to say, the next logical flow in conversation, and blurted out the first thing that ran through my head from the minute I saw him tending to Edward.

"Fuck, I missed you." I put my hands over my face, waiting for his reaction.

"I've missed you too, Jasper."


End file.
